User blog comment:Brigadier Barty/Tavern of the Rusted Claw/@comment-26024035-20160423181424/@comment-26024035-20160427211516

A couple inches shorter, and Slank would have been flung over the rail; fortunately or unfortunately, his whole lengthy body was instead caught by that railing and smashed up against it before sliding swiftly to the deck. He lay there for a moment, his head dizzy and his eyes fluttering open and closed and open again. He staggered slowly back up, lurching to the wheel and clinging to it to keep his balance as the vessel began to tilt in a way that it never should have. Am I dead? A soft whisper in his head wondered. Is this Hellgates? The fire, and the bodies, and the screams, seemed to confirm that as a yes.

And then Jalfis stumbled up to him, wheezing and clutching his ribs. The steersweasel had an ugly bruise on his bare chest, but otherwise proved alive and uninjured as he shook Slank desperately. "We need t' gerroff th' ship!" He rasped. "Th' Wasp 's doomed!"